Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 9 December 2024 to Question 17570 on Pension Funds: Environment Protection, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of creating a legal obligation for UK-based pension schemes to divest from companies that are not compliant with the UK’s climate commitments.

Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

As set out in our answer of 9 December to Question 17570, in line with their fiduciary duty trustees of pension schemes have a responsibility to consider and review their approach to investment, stewardship and voting in light of the climate risks to their members. The Government has no current plans to change legislation.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of new housing targets on sewerage infrastructure.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

I refer my Hon Friend to my answer to Question UIN 9948 on 23 October 2024.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 6 December 2024 to Question 17571 on Fossil Fuels: Insurance, whether her Department has taken steps with the Prudential Regulation Authority to ensure Lloyd’s of London’s underwriting activities are compliant with the UK’s legal climate commitments.

Answered by Tulip Siddiq

The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) is responsible for overseeing the prudential regulation and supervision of financial institutions in the UK, ensuring their safety, soundness, and compliance with regulatory standards.

Responsibility for regulatory requirements relating to transition plans sits with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), who have set out their plans to consult on strengthened transition plan disclosure expectations for listed companies.

The PRA and the FCA are both operationally independent regulators, who have the power to take action against financial services firms that do not comply with their rules.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 6 December 2024 to Question 17571 on Fossil Fuels: Insurance, whether the Prudential Regulation Authority is responsible for enforcing the (a) development and (b) implementation of transition plans for (i) UK regulated financial institutions and (ii) FTSE 100 companies.

Answered by Tulip Siddiq

The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) is responsible for overseeing the prudential regulation and supervision of financial institutions in the UK, ensuring their safety, soundness, and compliance with regulatory standards.

Responsibility for regulatory requirements relating to transition plans sits with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), who have set out their plans to consult on strengthened transition plan disclosure expectations for listed companies.

The PRA and the FCA are both operationally independent regulators, who have the power to take action against financial services firms that do not comply with their rules.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of whether the divestment of pension funds from insurance companies that are not compliant with the UK’s climate commitments is a part of fiduciary duty.

Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

Trustees have a fiduciary duty to make investment decisions in members’ best interests. Climate-related risk and opportunity is one of the major categories of financial factors of which trustees need to take account, in line with their fiduciary duty.

The Department introduced new requirements for schemes in 2021, based on the recommendations of the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). The legislation requires trustees of occupational pension schemes, with assets above £1 billion, to manage climate-related risks and explain how they have done so in an annual TCFD report. The Pensions Regulator is responsible for monitoring compliance with the requirements and reviewed a sample of reports in 2024. The findings are available here: Review of climate-related disclosures by occupational pension schemes: Year 2 | The Pensions Regulator.

It is up to individual schemes, in line with their fiduciary duty, to choose whether to divest from companies that are not compliant with the UK’s climate commitments. In 2025, Government will consult on proposals for financial institutions, including insurance companies, to develop Paris Aligned Transition Plans which set out steps for reaching net zero. Pension schemes can utilise their stewardship approaches, namely voting and engagement, to nudge companies towards greener practices. There is no single approach to managing climate-related risk, but trustees typically use a combination of investment strategies and stewardship approaches to deliver the best outcomes for members.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the (a) governance and (b) performance of the water industry in England meets the UK's obligations under the Aarhus Convention.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government is committed to the effective implementation of our international obligations under the Aarhus Convention on access to information, public participation and access to justice in environmental matters.

The United Kingdom is not currently subject to any water industry related compliance recommendations concerning its obligations under the Convention.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many times prisons in Norfolk operated an (a) amber and (b) red regime in each the last 10 years.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

As this information demonstrates, the new Government inherited a criminal justice system in crisis, with prisons on the point of collapse.

All public sector prisons have systems in place for the day-to-day management of staff resources and regime delivery, to ensure that regimes are safe, decent, secure, resilient and sustainable.

The recorded information relating to regimes in prisons in Norfolk is available from September 2022 onwards, and is as follows:

Red Regime – None

Amber/Red – 151 times

Green/Amber – 450 times.

Ofwat price review

Right to protest outside the BBC

Cuba

Prison maintenance insourcing

Renewal of the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme

Flood recovery framework

Knowsley Livv Housing industrial dispute

25th anniversary of the Coalfields Regeneration Trust

Found: Kate Osborne Andrew Cooper Paula Barker Apsana Begum Ellie Chowns Siân Berry Clive Efford Clive Lewis

Found: Kate Osborne Andrew Cooper Paula Barker Apsana Begum Ellie Chowns Siân Berry Clive Efford Clive Lewis

Found: Richard Burgon Kate Osborne Paula Barker Apsana Begum Ellie Chowns Siân Berry Clive Efford Clive Lewis

Found: Richard Burgon Kate Osborne Paula Barker Apsana Begum Ellie Chowns Siân Berry Clive Efford Clive Lewis

Found: Richard Burgon Kate Osborne Paula Barker Apsana Begum Ellie Chowns Siân Berry Clive Efford Clive Lewis

Found: Richard Burgon Kate Osborne Paula Barker Apsana Begum Ellie Chowns Siân Berry Clive Efford Clive Lewis

Found: Richard Burgon Kate Osborne Paula Barker Apsana Begum Ellie Chowns Siân Berry Clive Efford Clive Lewis

Found: McDonnell Richard Burgon Paula Barker Apsana Begum Ellie Chowns Siân Berry Clive Efford Clive Lewis